What Made Her Different?
by DemToastyLuvas
Summary: It always finds a way to come back to her, no matter how much Arisse tried to run away from her hellish past, she couldn't fully escape it. But after being found in the rain, waking up to see an annoying blonde idiot, two teens cosplaying as a frog and MP3 player and a girl looking like Alice, she gets dragged into their world, unable to escape.
1. Prologue

***~Prologue~***

**Disclaimer: I don't own KagePro, only the OC and the plot of this story**

* * *

><p>The girl rested against a building, cold, tired, numb. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, trying to rub some warmth into her arms. It was hopeless. She thought. The rain was making it worse. Just a few hours ago she fell into the pier and she had to pull herself out. What made it worse what that everyone was watching her.<p>

"…Damn them all." She hissed, her voice no louder than a whisper.

She looked up to the dark gray sky, she was going to die soon. She could feel it. The snake was going to swallow her again. She felt herself slowly, slipping into a deep and cold sleep. She wasn't going to wake up again. She knew, deep inside. The lady couldn't help her anymore.

Her name was Arisse. Arisse Asmedez.

o~o~O~o~o

_ "…Hey, you." Shut up. Couldn't the girl she was dead here? It was her again. Arisse's deep evergreen eyes opened, "…What?" Her tone was cold._

_ "No need to sound so mean." Ayano sighed. _

_ "…Am I dead?"_

_ "No silly, just sleeping."_

_ "…I could've sworn…"_

_ "Someone saved you."_

_ "…They didn't need to." Arisse sat up, folding her arms across her chest._

_ They were sitting in an old room, there was an open window that showed a deep orange sky, its white curtains billowing in the soft breeze. There was an empty desk opposite to the window and a small bed to the desk's right. Her old room at the orphanage was simple. And that's the way Arisse liked it. Ayano Tateyama was sitting on her bed, her red scarf wrapped loosely around her neck. _

_ "Arisse."_

_ "Hm?"_

_ "…For _it_ to work, you need trust."_

_ "Why are you telling me this again?" The green-eyed girl sighed, combing her fingers through her auburn locks._

_ "Because. It will help you. In more ways than one."_

_ "It never did. People called me creepy because of knowing blah and blah." Arisse deadpans._

_ "It's not supposed to be used that way." Ayano chuckles lightly._

_ "Then how is it supposed to be used?" Arisse glances at Ayano._

_ "You'll find out. Soon, be patient."_

_ And the dream slowly faded, just like that. She was leaving the comfort of the heat haze again, and back to the cruel world._

_ "See you again Ayano."_

_ Ayano had a sad smile on her face. The brunette knew, how Arisse would always forget, forget their meetings._

o~o~O~o~o

Dark evergreen eyes slowly fluttered open, greeted by a harsh blinding white light. Arisse groaned and raised a hand to shield her eyes. Wait, what? She thought she was still in that empty alleyway. She waited a bit for her eyes to adjust. How long had she been asleep? Who found her? A dozen more questions ran through her mind.

"Oh, is she awake?" A shy and tiny voice piped up, it might've belonged to a young child.

"…I think she is." A second voice answered.

"Who'd have thought she could survive several hours in the rain?" A third voice chimed in.

"…Shush, she's waking up." A fourth one cut their conversation short.

Arise blinked, she sat up and looked around, her eyes already adjusted. "…Where…am I?" she asked, her voice was low. How long had she been out? "How long have I been sleeping? Who are you people?" She asked some more. Other questions started pouring out of her mouth, her grip on the blanket tightened, her green eyes narrowed at the people in the room.

First was a young looking girl, with very long white hair. Her outfit seemed to resemble Alice's, you know, like Alice in Wonderland, yeah, her. She was probably the first one who spoke. Next to her, looked like a guy trying to cosplay as a frog? What the heck? Arisse tried not to look confused. Then there was another guy who was wearing a black hoodie, had messy dirty blonde hair and somehow, for some reason, resembled a cat. Okay. Maybe she was delirious or something. Lastly, probably the one who stopped the first three's conversation, was a third guy with long green hair, wearing a hoodie that resembled an MP3 player. (Somewhat.)

Arisse chose this as a good moment to sweatdrop.

"..." She mumbled, her glare was abandoned and replaced with a deadpanned look.

"What did you say, onee-san?" 'Cat' guy asked her.

"Nothing." She said lamely.

Laughter. Why did it sound so familiar somehow? It reminded her of this one guy at her old orphanage…no snap out of it Arisse, you're still dazed. He was still clutching his stomach.

"…Liar." She hisses. And for a brief moment she could see his mischievous smile quickly fade, but just as quickly, it returned, except this time it seemed…a little fake, forced.

"That's not a nice thing to say, and to an old friend of yours?"

"…Wait what? Old friend?" Arisse frowned in confusion.

"You don't remember us?" His face was also confused.

Arisse shook her head slowly. Well, they did sound familiar, but that was pretty much it.

"It's probably not her." The MP3 guy sighed, wait no, she was a girl. Arisse chewed her lip in embarrassment.

"…Yeah, people say I look familiar for some reason." Arisse sighed.

"No, it's her Kido, I know."

Arisse cleared her throat, "Excuse me, I'm right here. What do you mean by 'it's not her'"

"Your name's A-ris-se, right?"

It took the redhead a few seconds to process that, but suddenly, in one swift motion, she leapt at that boy, screaming, "You bastard! Don't you call me that!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

><p>Giant frog and MP3 girl had to pull Arisse away from the boy, "Damn you Shuuya! You promised you wouldn't call me that anymore!" She screeched at him.<p>

It would seem like the normal-embarrassment-felt-by-a-girl-when-a-guy-calls-her-some-name. (Deep breath, whew.) No, some words associating with the ginger's past would-

_No._

_ Here it comes...the stabbing pain of her past._

_ Quick flashes of different images ran through her mind. The orphanage, a blooming pain across her face as her mother slapped her with the towel, blood, blood as her father beat her, beat her for…Arisse didn't want to remember, her parents' death, the old her's embarrassing moments, the old her's painful moments, her stupidity and her obliviousness, her being naïve, that stupid grin on a friend's face, her always forgiving nature, her always trusting nature, her useless feelings for her friend, her past was stupid, it was painful, it was useless, it was still painful as awful fuck._

"L-Let go of me!" She screamed, wrenching away from the two. She held her head, no she couldn't let her stupid emotions take over. Like hell she would let them. She bit her lip hard, hard enough to make it bleed, no she was not going to cry here, she. Will. Not. Cry. "...You ass, Shuuya." She growled at him, she barely noticed those tears rolling down her face.

"…I didn't mean to Arisse."

_"You're never sorry Shuuya! You always do this, you always say you're sorry, but then you would keep on doing what you were sorry for. Liar!" _The auburn-haired girl turned and ran out the room.

"Wait! Arisse!"

o~o~O~o~o

Arisse ran down the empty hallway and ran into some empty room, then locked herself in it. She slid down into a sitting position, she cradled her head. "…What did you mean? I wasn't saved. I was brought back to my hellish past."

Several more tears dripped down her face, from her dark evergreen orbs. She bit her lip furiously, enough to make it bleed. She was not going to cry again, she will not. Cry.

But her emotions overtook her and she was racked with heaving sobs. _D-dammit!_ She hated it. She fucking hated it when she cried. It was useless, it was for no reason. But she still did it anyway. This was why she always kept away from anything that had anything to do with her past. But it would always. Find. A. Damn. Way to catch up with her.

Her chest heaved with racking sobs so she had no choice, but to cry. There was nothing else she could do right now, except to vent out her bottled up emotions.

"Arisse? Arisse, you alright?"

That voice. After several breaths, she clenched her fists tightly. She hated it. It was annoying. She hated how the concern was faked. She hated how easily people can fake almost any kind of emotion in their voice.

"Go away." She said, forcing the thick tone in her voice away and failing, horribly. This was embarrassing. The green-eyed girl buried her face in her hands. The world just loved to torture her, didn't it?

"Arisse, I'm sorry." He sounded genuine. No. That was a lie. Never trust a liar. She kept silent for a bit, the pause between the two long.

"I know you don't believe me, but I really am." He repeated, "I'm sorry Arisse."

She suddenly felt the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes again, she hastily rubbed and blinked them away. "…Just go away Shuuya." She couldn't believe she actually said that instead of what she really wanted to say.

o~o~O~o~o

Kano opened his mouth to say more, but Kido stopped him by grabbing his arm and shaking her head, as if to say, _'It's useless, she's not coming out.' _ The boy sighed dejectedly, resting his forehead on the door.

He tried to think of anything else, anything to convince Arisse that he wasn't lying, but there was nothing else. Kido tugged on his arm gently, "She needs some time alone," She said in a low voice. Kano hesitated for a bit, but let the green-haired girl pull him away, back to where the members of the Dan were. He stole a quick glance back to the room where Arisse was sitting, then looked forward. She would be fine, he thought to reassure himself.

Why was he suddenly so worried for her? She was a totally different person now. He could suddenly remember her, when they were in the orphanage so vividly. She was innocent, a bit naïve but she was very forgiving, trustworthy, she could never stay angry for a very long time.

What happened to her…?

o~o~O~o~o

Arisse hugged her knees to her chest, she hiccupped. Ugh. This was another reason why she hated crying. The girl wiped her eyes dry for what seemed to be the enth time. "…I should probably apologize. Then leave." She nodded. Yeah…that sounded like a nice plan, go run away from her past. Again.

The girl sighed, then noticed she was wearing a nightdress. Where were her clothes…? Oh.

They must've dried them off somewhere…ugh. She couldn't just go around only in a nightdress.

She waited for a bit before opening the door, she pressed an ear to the door. Okay…there was no one waiting outside. Why was she-

_Her eight-year old self pressed an ear to the door, listening if her parents were in the house. Silence. Okay…so they were out. That was good, she could go eat. She twisted the doorknob and looked down the hallway, double-checking if it was empty again, sometimes her mother would be standing outside the door, waiting for her to come out-_

Arisse shook her head, snapping out of the flashback forcefully. _Why did I only remember that now? _"…No…forget it. Forget it." She opened the door and went out suddenly smacking hard into something, painfully.

"OW!" They both said at the same time. "Ow ow ow…" It was the girl with fluffy white hair. "Sorry, sorry, so sorry!" Arisse poured out, repeating the 'sorry', over and over.

"I-it's okay, I'm usually the one saying 'sorry' though…" The tiny girl gave a small smile.

Arisse smacked herself mentally, _what was up with her today? _She was acting out of character, every since she woke up.

"…Oh right! I was going to say dinner's ready."

"…I-I'm not really going to stay…"

"But you must! Kido's a really good cook!" The girl grabbed both of Arisse's hands, the auburn-haired teen chewed her lower lip nervously. "U-uh…I really couldn't stay…I er…"

"Kaaaano! I don't sound like that!" The white haired girl's voice could be heard through the walls. Arisse raised a sceptical eyebrow… "Uh…"

"Ehehe…"

This was legitimately weirding-not scaring- Arisse out. How could 'Alice' (She was going to call the little girl that for now.) be over here, calling her for dinner and over (wherever there is), saying how she doesn't-

"…Shuuya?"

"How did you know it was me?" Suddenly Arisse was looking at the blonde boy. "…How did you do…I-I heard…what."

"Come on, let's go eat." He dragged her off to the other members of the gang.

"Shuuya. You have a lot of explaining to do..."


	3. Chapter 2

***~Chapter 2~***

Arisse stared at the untouched food on her plate, slowly tuning out the conversations going on. She didn't have any appetite. As the dinner dragged on, she kept thinking of how she could apologize. It would be embarrassing to just blurt out a 'Sorry!' and it would be a bit creepy to ask to talk to 'Kido' in private, ugh.

And it was suddenly quiet. Why was everyone staring at her? Oh. She might've said the last part out loud. She chewed her lip nervously at the awkward silence. "Whoops…" She muttered at an inaudible volume.

"Hm? Are we boring you A-ris-se?" The blonde boy drawled.

The auburn-haired visibly flinched at the name, and she forced the memories away. "…No…just…talked…out loud…"

"Just _talked _out loud? Are you sure?" Something in his voice annoyed Arisse. "…Yes. I'm sure." She said through clenched teeth.

Shuuya's golden eyes flickered with amusement, "...We were just talking about how our days were, how was _your_ day today? We're kinda curious."

o~o~O~o~o

"Do you really want to know?" Her voice was low and wary. It intimidated the boy, but whatever surprise or fear, or whatever, was quickly masked. "...I had a fan-_fucking_-tastic day."_(Seto quickly covered Marry's ears.)_

"I cried for half a day, do you know how _fun_ that is? My living hell of a past is coming back, doesn't that sound pleasant?" A few minutes later, she looked down as if she were shameful, "I should just leave…" she pushed her chair back and stood up. She left the room without saying anything else.

…He went too far again? Didn't he?

o~o~O~o~o

"…I hate myself." She mutters, turning the doorknob and stepping out into the hallway. She leaned her back against the wall. How long had it been since she's eaten with other people? How long had it been since she's actually _talked_ with people?

Was it a few months? Or has it been a year? It seemed much longer to her. She was going to start crying again, wasn't she? Ugh. She hated it. She furiously blinked the tears away.

Crying never does anything. She hated it. She fucking hated it.

"…They were right. I would never survive." She muttered.

"Who's _'they'_, Arisse?" Ugh. It was the blonde bastard again.

"…Leave me alone." She hardened her gaze, sending the message 'Fucking, go. Away,' through her aura.

"I just want to apologize."

"You're never sincere."

"…Please, Arisse. I'm sorry."

It was so short and simple. It sounded so sincere. But it was something deep inside her that made her deny the apology. She couldn't, no, she didn't _want_ to remember those days. She bit her lip.

_You said you weren't leaving, you promised!_

_ I hate you! You lied to me!_

_ You promised me!_

She was so weak. It was humiliating. Embarrassing. Shameful. She thought she wasn't that weak girl anymore. She fought to change that. She tried so hard.

_Let's face it. She was forever weak. To be mocked. To be laughed at. _

But she didn't want to believe that. She didn't want to! 

A warm hand brushed the already falling tears from her face. "…It's okay to cry y'know? It's natural for us to. It doesn't make you weak, it doesn't mean that you're a crybaby."

Arisse didn't know what it was, was it because of what Shuuya had said? Or was it because she couldn't bottle up her emotions anymore? She cried, she sobbed, hugging the boy tightly while he patted her back, strangely comfortingly.

She managed to calm down after several minutes, the two sat outside the apartment in silence. Until she noticed what she was doing and inched away awkwardly. She turned her gaze to the ground, finding an interest in the floor.

o~o~O~o~o

The blonde couldn't help but chuckle at Arisse. Her gaze snapped to him, her green eyes narrowed, "…Shut up." She said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't help it." He flashed his signature mischievous grin.

Arisse said something that sounded like, "Tch," and turned away, blowing a tuft of reddish-brown hair out of her face. "Idiot. Everything seems to make you laugh."

Disbelief briefly flashed across his face, she acted _very_ differently from the Arisse he knew before. He could feel his eyes deepen to a red, hiding his true emotion.

"I'm going to change into my clothes and get out." She stood up, about to enter the apartment again, when they both heard the familiar crackle of thunder, "I don't think you should go back out into the rain." His eyes returned to their normal shade of gold-ish yellow.

"I can borrow an umbrella."

"And if we don't have any?"

"Who the hell doesn't have an umbrella in their house?"

"That's something to think about…" He stroked his imaginary beard.

Arisse facepalmed. "Ugh. Fine. I'll spend _one_ night here. Until the rain stops." She grumbled, massaging her forehead.

"Aww…am I giving you a headache~?"

Arisse's eye twitched in frustration, and he couldn't help but find it funny then started laughing, pretty loudly.

o~o~O~o~o

"Bwahaha! You should look at your face Arisse!" He pointed at her.

Arisse glared at him, then turned the doorknob, deciding to lock him outside the apartment for the night.

When she turned the doorknob, she could faintly hear 'Alice' saying, "They're coming in! They're coming in!" Then two pairs of footsteps rushing back to maybe where the dining area was.

…Crap. _It_ was coming back again.

She turned the knob and opened the door, thinking that she left Shuuya outside and shut the door, locking it.

"Thanks for locking the door A-ris-se~!" The cheerful blonde thanked her, that's it. She delivered a swift punch to his side, shutting him up. Successfully.

"Ugh. How do you live with this idiot?" She pointed to the doubled over Shuuya, earning an indignant, "Hey!" 

"Kido." 'Alice' and Giant frog respond in unison.

"Who?"

"Oh how rude and forgetful of me! I forgot to introduce you to everyone in the Mekakushi Dan!"

"The what?"

"Kano!" The other three in the room yelled at him.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"The Mekakushi Dan! We avoid the police's eyes and infiltrate dangerous facilities to borrow various things!

"Member number one is our beloved Danchou, or known as Kido! She's the one with the scary glare." Shuuya points to the green-haired girl wearing the MP3 hoodie.

"My glare isn't that scary," Kido retorted.

"The one dressed up like a giant frog is member number two, Seto, he always stays by Marry's side."

Seto gave a small polite wave, which Arisse returned, just as politely. Minus the smile.

"Marry is the Dan's number four, she's the one who has fluffy white hair."

Marry was visibly shaking from anxiety and kept her gaze trained on the table, "N-n-nice to m-meet you." She managed to stutter.

"Last but not least, is me, Kano, member number three of the Mekakushi Dan!" He struck a confident pose.

Kido sighed exasperatedly, "You idiot. You just told her what we do!" She hit Shuuya on the head.

"I couldn't help it." He held his aching head

"Ugh. Since Kano told you what we do. We can't exactly-"

"I'm leaving tomorrow. This is all a dream. Don't give the 'Join us or else,' please." Arisse held up a hand to stop Kido. "I would forget all of this tomorrow." And she walked off to some other room.

Wait. She paused, then walked over to Kano and flicked his forehead, "Idiot. Learn to count right."

o~o~O~o~o

A faint ghost of a smile dusted Arisse's lips as she walked off to another room, maybe the empty one where she was just at.

She admits she was a bit rude, but she didn't regret seeing Shuuya's face after she flicked his forehead. It was funny. It widened the small grin on her face. Payback. It was swee~t.

She laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, the pitter-patter sound of raindrops outside and the occasional crackle of thunder, Arisse couldn't sleep. The bed was too hot, too soft, but before she could drift off to sleep, the rain and thunder would wake her up.

The auburn-haired girl groaned, frustrated. Nothing seemed to be able to help her with her sleep. Ugh, she covered her ears with the pillow, hummed quietly, thought about sleep, tried ignoring the sounds, counted sheep, counted the seconds, trying to bore herself and tried many other things but she couldn't get a wink of sleep.

Arisse sighed, sat up and held her head in her hands. It was still raining heavily.

She wanted to sleep. But it was too noisy. Too hot in here. Her senses were spiking again. It was coming again, wasn't it?

She pulled the covers off her legs and immediately regretted it, the cold air from the air conditioner hit her, she shivered and wrapped the blanket around herself then curled up into a ball.

Ugh. Don't people find it cold?

She sat like that on the bed for a bit, listening to the rain and thunder, and to the peaceful snores of the people sleeping in their rooms. The auburn-haired girl wanted to sleep just as peacefully.

But sleep never came to her.

It always eluded her grasp. When had she last slept so peacefully?

She couldn't remember.

Part of her wanted to, part of her didn't want to remember anything about the past. She sighed in frustration and decided to walk around the apartment for a bit.

Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and standing up, Arisse headed to the door, opening and closing the as quietly as possible. You never know if anyone would be having the same plan as her.

Heavy rain in the summer. How does it happen? She never liked rain. Too wet, too cold, it made your shoes wet, it made your clothes wet and stick to you, ugh. She liked staying anywhere indoors as long as one, it was cleaner than a young hooligan's room and two, there weren't that many people there.

Her old room was an example of this perfect indoor place. It was probably the only one.

The apartment was almost as cold as the room, except that the rain sound was probably a bit muffled, and the room was maybe…several degrees colder?

She sat down on the couch, she could probably sleep with this…yeah…it wasn't as loud as before… Was it her? Or was she actually finding it hard to keep her eyes open? _You really need the sleep though… _she thought to herself.

Arisse closed her eyes and slept, peacefully, for the first time in a long time…

o~o~O~o~o

_"Arisse…" A prod to her side, "Hey…wake up…"_

"…Shut up." Arisse kept her eyes closed, she was sleeping right here. Couldn't that idiot see?

_Another prod to the side, "It's morning now…"_

Her eyes shot open, who the hell…where was she again? Her head snapped up, headbutting Shuuya in the process, "Fuck!" She cursed loudly in pain, holding her head, "You idiot!" She snarled at him.

"I wasn't the one sitting on the couch, sleeping!" He retorted, huh, he wasn't his normally cheerful, mischievous self in the morning.

"You out of all people should know that you shouldn't wake me up in the morning!"

The two of them continued squabbling like that until a very annoyed looking Kido stepped out of her room, her glare freezing the two in place and sending chills down their spine. "…Could you both _shut. Up?_" Her voice was full of forced calmness and anger about to be unleashed on the both of them, if they didn't stop doing whatever the hell they were doing.

The two teens nodded, eyes wide with terror.

Kido went back to her room, shutting the door and locking it.

Arisse and Shuuya let out a sigh of relief, Kido wasn't going to whoop their asses then. "You're so stupid." The auburn-haired muttered, keeping the warm blanket wrapped around herself

"…What time is it Shuuya?"

"Uh…six in the morning." An innocent smile.

Arisse's eye twitched in annoyance, "You woke me up that early?" She restrained herself from yelling.

"You shouldn't sleep sitting on the couch y'know, your neck's going to get stiff."

"I don't care, I didn't realize I was sleeping." She didn't want to admit that it was quieter here, than in the room she was at.

She stretched the stiff joints of her neck, sleeping while sitting up is not advised, she made a mental note to herself. She let out a sigh in relief when she heard the sounds of the popping joints.

"What were you doing on the couch anyway?"

"…It was comfier than the bed." Dodged the question again, she should try going back to sleep.

"It's not comfy at all."

"Just let me try to sleep again." She sighed exasperatedly.

"Okay then," Shuuya sat next to her.

"…" She stared at him.

"What?"

"Get. Off. I'm going to sleep."

A mischievous smile.

_This was going to be a long day. _Arisse thought, sighing exasperatedly. "Never mind. I'm awake. Screw your face Shuuya."


	5. Chapter 4

_***~Chapter 4~***_

Arisse discarded the blanket on the couch and made her way to the bathroom, annoying bastard, being a real creep. Now she could call him creepy and annoying. Isn't that nice? She could use something else other than annoying and stupid.

She sighed, locking the door behind her and turning on the tap to fill the sink with cold water. While waiting, she stared at her reflection in the mirror hanging above the sink. Pale, unblemished skin, wavy reddish-brown hair that fell past her shoulders, her frame was small and fragile. She _hated_ it when people thought she was weak. She wasn't the weak girl she was before. Arisse stared at her face, at her tired deep green eyes that no longer sparked with emotion. Only hate, annoyance and sadness.

The auburn-haired girl blinked back to reality, staring at the water-filled sink and hastily closed the tap, she splashed some of the water onto her face, getting rid of the sleep from her eyes, the water was cold, and it felt like ice on her face. She felt like if she used warm water, she would've fallen asleep onto the sink. Not something pleasant to think about.

Once Arisse finished washing her face, she watched the draining water then she wiped her face dry with a towel that was conveniently placed there, then walked out the bathroom, not forgetting to put the towel back where she found it. It was also cold in the bathroom, she wished that she didn't leave the blanket on the couch.

Because as she returned to where the sofa (and her blanket was), she saw Shuuya had the blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"Give my blanket back Shuuya." Arisse demanded in a low voice.

"But it's kinda cold in the apartment Arisse!"

"Of course it is, you woke me up at six! _Six_!" She hissed.

"Then we should share the blanket if we don't want to suffer Kido's anger."

Did she hear him right? Share? The blanket? Together? As in, have her personal space violated? Hell. No.

"Don't _you_ have a blanket in your own room?"

"That was _my _room you were sleeping in." Shuuya retorted.

She bit back an involuntary shudder. No wonder.

"Ugh." She sat on the other side of the couch, wrapping her arms around herself, the memory of night before last night still fresh in her mind. It was cold…until she felt a nice, comfortable warmth wrapped around her.

"…" Silence. She refused to look up, it was too warm in here.

"No need to be so tense Arisse, lighten up."

She elbowed him hard in the side, shutting him up. "…Shut up idiot." She gathered some of the blanket, trying to get as much of the warmth as she could.

o~o~O~o~o

How long had they been sitting like that? Arisse couldn't remember and she _ definitely _didn't remember falling asleep next to Shuuya.

_ "Hey…hey, Arisse…wake up."_ Multiple prods to her side, she muttered inaudibly tried to bury herself in the blanket, she wanted to sleep again, the apartment was warm…again…for some reason. So warm…she felt she could sleep for days…

_"Arisse. Arisse. Arisse."_ With every repeat of her name, she was prodded in the side. She grunted and pushed the hand away from her. "Shut up…" She snuggled closer to the source of heat, relishing its comfort…

A sigh, not from her, then an arm wrapped itself around her shoulders. Her green eyes shot open and she didn't dare to look up, nope nope nope, she pushed Shuuya away and shuddered, "Why the hell didn't you wake me up?!" She snarled at him, venom dripping from her words.

Shuuya smirked at her, "You just told me, _not_ to wake you up~"

An imaginary vein throbbed in her forehead, "You stupid…little…bastard." She snarled, ready to beat him into Hell, when, fortunately for the blonde, Arisse caught the scent of something delicious, like…breakfast food. Like when she was younger, like those times when the cook of the orphanage was in a good mood, she dropped her arm and sighed exasperatedly.

"You're such an idiot." She muttered, crossing her arms across her chest and resting her back against the couch, but slowly slouched, falling off the seat.

Marry poked her head into the room and said, "Kido-san says that breakfast's almost ready! Uh…is Arisse-chan awake yet?"

"Nope! She's over here!" Shuuya pointed at her, looking to the white-haired girl.

Arisse shot the blonde a dark glare that would've made little boys cry and run back to their mommy, all the while pissing their pants.

"A-ah okay, breakfast's a-almost ready!" She stuttered. Huh. Maybe it was her dark, cold aura that that scared the little girl. She couldn't look more than thirteen, sigh. Damn the blonde bastard.

"I heard you the first time Marry." She sat up, not looking at the girl, keeping her gaze trained on the wall.

"O-okay, I t-think Kido-san is c-calling me in the kitchen!" Arisse could hear Marry's hurried and terrified footsteps walking out.

"Look what you've done Arisse, you've scared the poor girl." Shuuya scolded her.

"…It's not my fault she gets nervous around everyone." The auburn-haired girl muttered, her stomach grumbled as the delicious aroma of breakfast wafted into the room.

The blonde chuckled at her again.

"…Ugh. I'm going to look for my clothes."

"Ah…about that…"

"What did you do this time, idiot?" Her aura darkened.

"Eh…Kido said something about her…letting you borrow her clothes…"

"Why Shuuya, why did she tell you that…?"

_**o~o~O~o~o**_

Kano didn't know which of the two scared him more, angry Kido? Or a furious Arisse?

Either way, he knew that he was going to be beaten senseless if they were pissed and he was going to need a miracle to survive this.

Before he could answer the teen, his ass was saved when Seto poked his head into the room, "Breakfast's ready! Uh…Arisse, what's with the dark look?"

"Little bastard was about to tell me why I have to borrow someone else's clothes…"

"Seto-kun! Ithinkwe'vegotanotherKidohere! Help me please!" And he was hiding behind Seto like how Marry does whenever there was someone new or whenever they went out, or whenever the two were together.

Seto sweatdropped.

"Oi! Are any of you going to eat breakfast?" Kido's voice snapped, calling them into the kitchen, making the four of them scramble into chairs

o~o~O~o~o

The five teenagers ate their breakfast in silence, two dark auras emanated from two people, Kido and Arisse. There was a very tense silence that no one _dared_ to break. Until Kido asked Arisse, "You're going to have to join us, because Kano told you what we do."

"I can keep secrets."

"I can't trust that you'll keep this a secret."

"Why's that, huh? Why? I need one _valid_ reason."

"Because. I don't trust you that easily."

"Neither do I trust anyone here."

"Not even-"

"_Shut up." _The two glared at the blonde.

"I just…can't trust that you'll keep the secret."

"Ugh." Arisse groaned in frustration, "That's what always happens. I don't care. I'm not going to join your stupid _gang_! I'm just going to get on with what my hellish life and forget that this shit ever happened!" She yelled, slamming her hands on the table.

"I don't want to go visit my past again!

"The damn living hell of my past… I can't face it again!" Her voice faltered on the first part, but she managed to keep her tears down for a bit. She wasn't going to start crying again. She was not.

Arisse gritted her teeth and looked down, no she was not going to feel guilty for lashing out again.

_Weak. Breakable. Fragile. Pushover. Naïve. Stupid._

Silence again at the table.

"Arisse.

"I'm not forcing you to join the gang because I don't trust that you'll keep the secret, I'm admitting that.

"But I'm trying to get you to join, because we can help. We can help you move on from your past. All your running away from it isn't helping yourself Arisse. You're torturing yourself more.

"We want to help Arisse. But if you don't want our help, fine. We'll back off, and we'll let you go away.

"Are you really willing to torture yourself more?" Kido asked her.


	6. Chapter 5

_***~Chapter 5~***_

Arisse didn't know. Was she really torturing herself more?

The auburn-haired girl clenched her hands into fists tightly, digging her nails into her palm.

"Are you willing to torture yourself more, Arisse?" Kido repeated.

"…I-I…don't know…"

"Let us help you Arisse, please."

_Let me help._

_ Please._

It was the little voice at the back of her head again, her memories, the memories of the younger Arisse, it was usually _her_ who would say that, _she_ would be the one to ask if people were okay, to ask how their day was, the one who was so generous, she hardly had anything to eat for snacks…

_Until the accident, when her parents just…dumped her onto some neighbor's hands and left her. They didn't say goodbye, they didn't leave a note, they just…left her there in front of the door, and drove back to their house._

"…I don't want to remember it all. I don't. I don't…" Her voice shook, tears gathered in her deep green eyes. "…But I don't want to hurt myself anymore…"

"We'll help you then." A small hand placed itself over her own, "You're not alone, we're a solid group!" Marry said, a small smile on her lips. "Don't worry, we're not mean people.

"Well…Kano-san is a bit mean…sometimes…And Kido-san looks mean, but she's a nice person." Marry's smile widened a bit.

Arisse glanced to their hands and noticed a several drops of red, dripping from her palms, shit she must have dug her nails too deeply into both of her palms. "Shit!" She cursed, trying to stop the bleeding.

Marry jumped back surprised with a yelp, "D-did I cut your hand somehow? I-I'm sorry! I'll look for the bandages and peroxi-thing!" And she ran off, stumbling, but managing to regain her balance.

"Marry! Be careful not to drop those! I'll help you!" Seto followed the white-haired girl.

And…Shuuya looked like he was about to fall off his chair, laughing while Kido sweatdropped, the green-haired girl's expression clearly saying, _"I deal with this every day._"

_**o~o~O~o~o**_

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Marry apologized, bowing over and over again. Arisse stopped her, "It's my fault Marry, I…dug my nails into my palms." She was still cradling her hands, somehow.

"…I-I'll try to fix it!" Marry set the bottle of peroxide down on the table (After Shuuya and Kido cleared it, she wanted to help, but…they said that they could clean it themselves and that she should stay seated.) along with the bandages.

"You sure you know how to do this Marry?"

"Yeah...can I see your hands?"

Arisse reluctantly opened both of her palms, and grimaced at the side of the blood and the nail marks, "It looks pretty bad…" The auburn-haired girl cringed.

"We just…pour some of the peroxide on the wound, it would hurt a lot though…"

"Just…the sooner we get this over with, the better." Arisse braced herself for the pain.

"O-okay," And with that she hesitantly tipped the bottle over a bit, pouring a bit of its contents over the wounds on Arisse's left hand. It stung and it was very painful, like Marry said. She almost screams in pain, tears gather in her eyes.

"Now for your other hand…" Marry waited for a bit, then repeated the same process on Arisse's right hand, it stung, just as painfully and Arisse had to bite down on her lip to keep herself from screaming again.

Marry put the bottle of peroxide down, then got the bandages and wrapped them over the wounded palms, after doing that, the white-haired girl examined her handiwork, looking satisfied, "And there, your hands are better now."

Arisse let out a sigh of relief, "…Thanks Marry."

"You're welcome Arisse-san!" The smaller girl beamed, but stopped. "Why're you crying?"

_She was crying again?!_ The teen hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand, "I-I was?

"I-it was the peroxide…"

"It's okay, I also cried when I first used it…" Marry looked a bit sheepish.

"That makes two of us."

Marry giggled and Arisse couldn't help but to smile too. She was able to, and had made friends with Marry. Wasn't that something like an achievement or something?

_**o~o~O~o~o**_

Arisse examined her bandaged palm, she traced the bandage boredly, occasionally pausing to glance at the clock then sighing as she would see that only a few seconds had passed. She was bored. And it as boring here.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clock kept on repeating, almost lulling her into a sleep, but she wasn't going to sleep for a third time. Nu-uh.

"Getting bored?" Arisse looked up from examining her palm then turned to where the voice was, seeing Kido suddenly sitting next to her. Arisse blinked, "Yeah…

"I was debating with myself whether I could go out, walk around, stretch my legs for a bit…but then I remember I'm wearing this." The teen gestured to her nightdress.

"Oh…that belonged to Marry. It looked like the only thing that would fit you…guess I was…wrong." Kido looked a bit embarrassed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arisse blurted out indignantly.

"I-I thought you were somewhere like Marry's size…" Kido pulled her hood down a bit to conceal her embarrassed expression.

Arisse sweatdropped, then sighed. "It's closet shopping again for me again…"

"Wait…I'll lend you a shirt…and pants." The green-haired girl stood up and went into her room, several minutes later she came out holding a gray shirt and a pair of jeans. "Here." She muttered, holding out the bundle of clothes to her,"…Uh thanks Kido."

"Don't mention it."

"I'll just jump into the shower then we'll go to the mall."

"What's this I hear about going to the mall?" Shuuya drawls poking his head out of his room.

"Creep!" Arisse picks up the closest thing next to her (which happens to be a slipper) and throws it at Shuuya's face, luckily for him, he ducked, dodging the slipper.

"Aww…I can't come?"

"Of course you can't!" Arisse said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, picking up the second slipper and preparing to throw it at the idiot's face again.

"We're going shopping?" Marry pokes her head into the living room area, an excited-ish expression on her face, "Where?"

Arisse groaned and facepalmed, dropping the slipper.

"...How do you deal with this Kido?"

The green-haired girl shrugged, "Just got used to it."

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, that was the end of Chapter 5. I hope you're enjoying the story everyone. Yes I upload two chapters at a time, and have the goal of writing 1000 or more each chapter, it takes a bit of a while. If you didn't notice, I changed the summary, I felt like it was too vague and had a lot of grammar mistakes. Hope you don't mind. C:<strong>

**Toasty's out! Seeyanexttime!**


	7. Chapter 6

_***~Chapter 6~***_

"Ugh it's so hot…and it was just raining a while ago!" Arisse grumbled, feeling incredibly tired and hot as the relentless rays of the sun beat down on her.

"Heh, gotta get used to it A-ris-se." Shuuya flashed his signature smirk at her, the auburn-haired teen shot him a glare and stopped herself from slugging him in the face.

"I'm surprised you haven't gotten a tan yet," Arisse shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun, sweat pouring down her skin. "Why did you have to come with us anyway Shuuya?"

"Meh, I felt like it. I was also getting kinda bored." He shrugged.

Arisse scanned her surroundings, "No sign of shade anywhere…and I'm kinda jealous that Marry gets to piggyback ride from Kido." She muttered the last part to a volume much lower than the average low (I'll let you all think about that.)

She wanted to see more, past the damn sun's rays, past all the brightness. She didn't want to be short-sighted.

_Blue._

_ Remember those? The visions you would have?_

_ You called them blue-something._

_ What was it?_

Her eyes burned to a red, _was it blue-visions?_

o~o~O~o~o

"…Arisse?" Kido looked to the teen.

No response from the auburn-haired girl, "Arisse." She repeated with a slightly louder voice.

The green-haired girl grabbed Arisse's shoulder, making her face Kido. The hoodie-wearing girl gasped, Arisse's eyes turned into a deep red, they had a faraway look to them.

"Arisse! Arisse! Snap out of it!" Kido yelled, shaking Arisse.

Marry watched with wide, concerned eyes, "What's happening to her?" She slid off of Kido's back, wincing as her bare feet came into contact with the concrete. "Is she alright?" The medusa shifted from foot to foot, she really should have worn some kind of shoes…

"I-I don't know!" Kido was sounding frantic.

"She's having those visions again, isn't she?"

"What are you talking about Kano?"

"Visions. Kido. She's seeing things we can't see."

"Like ghosts?" Marry piped up, her feet were really starting to hurt now, but she tried to be nonchalant about it.

The blonde shrugged, "She never really told me what she would see. But she's going to need help." He said the last part seriously then scanned his surroundings.

"We're going to need to find shade for her." Kido muttered, "I'll carry her, Marry, why didn't you wear any shoes... Will you be able to keep up with us?"

"Y-yeah."

"…Onee-chan…" Arisse said quietly, still staring at nothing. It was like she was conversing with a spirit. What if she really could see a spirit? A lot of things ran through Marry's mind.

"C'mon Marry-chan, you're lagging behind!" Kano grabbed her wrist and dragged her behind him, Marry yelped and stumbled, almost tripping flat on her face. But somehow, magically, she was able to regain her balance.

And of course, the blonde was laughing the whole time.

How could someone like him be so cheerful at a time like this one? Marry almost forgot about the dazed Arisse. Almost.

o~o~O~o~o

The four teens rested as soon as they reached the cool interior of a convenience store, the clerk didn't even look up from reading his magazine. That meant Kido was still using her eye power that was okay, right? Or no…would she be exhausted…?

Marry collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, that was the longest she had ever run. Her legs felt like jelly. "Hah…hah…I'm sorry…for…being…hah…so slow…" At least she wasn't standing on the sidewalk with her bare feet anymore.

"Will Arisse be okay?"

"Just give her a minute."

Kido set Arisse on the ground, "…I'll go get us some water." She put her hands in the pocket of her hoodie and walked off.

"B-but don't go too far!" Marry called out, remembering that Kido's ability only worked for two meters.

So it was only the two of them and Arisse.

"How do you know Arisse-san?" Marry asked, suddenly curious.

"Ah, that's a long story, where do I begin?" The blonde thought for a moment, "Maybe I'll tell you some other time." He grinned slyly. Marry hid her disappointment, "Oh fine."

"I'm back." Kido reappeared, holding several bottles of water. "looks like Arisse hasn't woken up yet." She took a seat next to them and passed a bottle to Marry, then to Kano.

"...Will she be okay?"

"She should be."

At just that moment, the auburn-haired girl stirred and sat up, "Did a cloud just pass under the sun?" She asked, her eyes back to their green.

"You're awake!" Marry sighed in relief.

"Yeah. I felt like I was in a huge oven…" The older teen muttered, accepting a bottle of water and taking a long drink.

"What happened when your eyes turned red?" Kido asked.

"I don't think you'll believe me."

"I hardly ever believe Kano, being the deceiver he is." Kido says, hiding a small sneaky grin under her hoodie's collar. _("Hey! That's not nice Kido!" Kano said indignantly.) _

The auburn-haired girl hid a small smile, "...It was like I could feel everything…

"…It was so hot, it burned. It was so bright, I could have gone blind. The chatter of the passerby and the sound of loud passing cars could have made my eardrums burst. And don't get me started on the smells…"

"Arisse…" Kido stopped her rambling.

"Sorry… And the background turned a deep blue, like I was looking at the deep part of the water, I could still see the bright rays of the sun though… Isn't that weird?

"And the scariest part… was that everyone was a wisp of flame. I could have simply reached out…and extinguished it. Like…

"Like…" Arisse chewed her lip, unsure of whether she should continue or not.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell us," Marry said.

Arisse swallows, "Yeah… I shouldn't."

The four sat in an awkward silence.

"...So what now?" Marry decided to break the silence.

"I guess we should go continue what we were supposed to do, who knows, maybe we might run into Seto." Arisse wiggled her eyebrows, smiling mischievously at the white-haired girl.

"E-eh?! Arisse-san! You're mean just like Kano-san!" She flushed a very deep red and looked away.

"…Nah. I'm not an idiot like him, and besides, I'm waaay, better-looking."

"Arisse!"

The auburn-haired girl laughed, ruffling both Marry's and Kano's hair, "Ahaha, let's just go to the mall before this gets out of hand, okay?"


	8. Chapter 7

_***~Chapter 7~***_

The mall was as tightly packed as the group of teenagers thought it would be. _Well. Of course it was going to be this crowded_, _it's a weekend,_ Arisse thought to herself, slapping herself mentally. Marry clung to Kido tightly and Shuuya was off walking ahead while she… was just trying not to get too paranoid about her eye power suddenly activating again, oh and she was also trying not to come into contact with anyone as they wove through the crowds.

"How much farther is the department store Kido?" Arisse grumbled, trying not to gag as some burly man dressed in jeans and a tank top passed by her, with her spiked senses, she could detect a very strong aroma of body odor. Blegh. Deodorant was invented for a reason.

"It's not that much farther."

"It better be." She muttered to herself, avoiding a woman carrying two children.

They walked for another fifteen minutes and ended up in front of a store, where even more people seemed to be gathered. Arisse, Kido and Marry stood in front of the entrance to the store, with their jaws gaping. They just maneuvered through a crowd of people, do they have to do this all over again?!

A young teenager shoved past Arisse, "Move! You're blocking the way bitch! I heard the idol Momo Kisaragi was here, I cannot miss her!" Said teen yelled and continued running and shoving past the crowd.

Arisse glowered at the girl's retreating form, "I'm going to kill her…" She muttered, starting after her.

A hand gripped her wrist pulling her back, "She's not worth it Arisse."

"Ugh...but she just shoved me over…_like I was a weak person._"

"Don't go after her."

Arisse yanked her wrist away from Shuuya, "...Fine, I can just go get my own clothes on my own, Kido already gave me money."

Kido interrupted Shuuya, "…I'll just go with you, Kano, watch Marry, okay?"

"Oh fiiine." The blonde whined, "C'mon Marry, let's leave the two to go do their shopping." The white-haired girl reluctantly followed.

"...Let's go hurry and then get out of here." Kido eyed the crowd, her eyes deepening to red again.

"Sounds like a plan Commander." Arisse muttered.

_**o~o~O~o~o**_

"Could you tell me more about Arisse, now?" Marry struggled to keep up after Kano, but it was like the blonde didn't even notice that she was following him.

"I don't think we can talk in the crowd Marry."

"…Oh fine," She sighed in frustration, puffing out her cheeks and hurrying after Kano, trying her best not to trip over her feet or on her hair…or on some other person's foot. The medusa quickly mumbled an apology after stepping on a woman's foot, she looked around for Kano and luckily caught sight of him.

She ran after him, clumsily weaving through the crowds and getting her hair and feet stepped on, "Wait! Please!" The white-haired girl yelled, reaching to grab at least the back of Kano's hoodie. She didn't want to get lost in the crowds!

"Kaano-san!" She grabbed a fistful of the back of his shirt and clung to him like a koala to a tree, he wasn't Kido nor was he Seto, but he was the only person she knew in the crowds.

"Uh…are you lost little girl?" Wait. That wasn't Kano.

_**O~o~O~o~o**_

"Oh god…that lady was trying to give me lingerie instead of normal underwear…" Arisse muttered, her face still flushed a deep shade of red. Things like that… weren't just meant to be treated as normal conversation between customer and employee. Kido hid another grin under the red collar of her hoodie.

"It's not funny!" Arisse said indignantly.

"Y-you're right. It's not. It's hilarious," The green haired girl chuckled.

"Kido!"

Arisse knew that people couldn't see them, but…sheesh, it wasn't funny if you were from the butt end of the joke.

Suddenly, someone slammed into Arisse making her drop her clothes and another one slammed into Kido, eliminating her Eye Concealment.

"Gah! Sorry sorry sorry!" The person stood up apologizing over and over, bowing repeatedly.

"I-it's alright, we weren't-"

"You really should watch where you're going lady!" Arisse spat, picking her clothes up.

"I-I can he- *THWACK*" They both smacked their heads together and Arisse dropped her bundle of clothes again.

"Godammit! How thick is your skull anyway?! It's like I tried to headbutt a damn tree down!" The auburn-haired girl was sure that there was going to be a PRETTY large bruise there.

"I'm sorry!"

"Ugh!" Arisse started picking her clothes up again.

"EEEE~! IT'S MOMO KISARAGI!" Someone screamed and the busy chatter at the department store stopped. It

Something made Arisse freeze and look to where the scream was heard. Loud pounding of footsteps and the all-too familiar click of cameras could be heard quickly approaching to where they were. Arisse froze, her green eyes narrowed. A stampeding crowd was running to them. This shit can happen in a department store?

Someone grabbed her by the arm, it must've been the girl who slammed into her, "Hurry, if you don't want to get caught in the stampede!"

And they were running, Kido and the other person behind them.

"How do you deal with this shit every day?!" Arisse clutched whatever clothes she was able to pick up close to her and tried to regain her balance, almost tripping and falling flat when they started running.

"I try not to run into them!" The orange-haired girl yelled, looking behind them, her eyes widening and they both started to run faster.

"SIGN MY SHIRT!"

"HAVE MY BABIES!"

"OMG CAN I HAVE AN AUTOGRAPH?!"

"MOMOOOOO"

"IT'S ACTUALLY THE IDOL! SQUEEEE~!"

"Why does this always happen whenever I go outside?!" 'Momo' moaned. Arisse shook her head, "Why the hell did you decide to become an idol?" she grumbled to herself.

_**o~o~O~o~o**_

Arisse couldn't believe. They had run for a full hour. And they lived to tell the damn tale.

Momo ran into a deserted alleyway and they waited until it was safe to leave. They both panted heavily for breath, it was a miracle they were still alive and able to stand after that. But Arisse was pretty sure her legs were going to be pretty sore after this.

"So…I'm guessing you're the idol Momo Kisaragi huh?"

"Eeyup, that's me." Momo managed a tired smile.

And the conversation was getting awkward. Where was everyone else when Arisse needed them?


End file.
